London Calling.
"(…) London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls (…)"– The Clash "London Calling".
Warnings: Crime and everything that comes with it.
Timing: 2016, a year after "The Cabbala"
Rating: M.
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen original comic books © Allan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. Neverwhere © Neil Gaiman. Atomic Robo © Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegner. Stargate Atlantis © MGM Studios. Hellboy (in character of Karl Ruprecht Kroenen) © Michael Mignola. Slenderman © Eric Knudsen (as Victor Surge). The story © Archer Black.
Dracula (in character of Wilhelmina Murray) by Bram Stoker. Allan Quatermain by sir Henry Rider Haggard. Orlando (or his/hers alike) by Virgina Woolf.
Meet the Enemy (part 2).
?
House of Arch. Lady Door's study.
It took them five hours of reading, comparing and arguing over each victim while Marquis de Carabas enjoyed the show. The man wasn't contributing much as the discussion didn't involve the aspects of London Below. It was all about the people who fallen victim to that mysterious killer, a mysterious serial killer if one wanted to be precise – this was definitely a series, they could confirm it beyond all doubt. At least seven of nine victims fell to the same killer while there were doubts about two of them.
The differences were pretty obvious. Five victims were women while four were men. Aside from the two in question, three victims were not mutilated at all, one was stabbed, one was cut in half and two were literally gutted.
The two victims whose being part of the series was questioned were a decapitated woman and not-mutilated man. The head of the woman has been found near the body; she bore signs of blunt force trauma to the head and was beheaded by a blade much larger than what was used on other victims. The man was killed by strong blow to the head that almost cracked the scull open while the woman was hit barely hard enough to leave a bruise and nothing else. And neither of them was missing anything, be that an item or a body part. That wasn't the case with the remaining seven people.
The one that was found cut in half lacked blood. It wouldn't be very surprising in itself considering that when someone was cut in half the blood would simply leak out. But the curious part was that there was no sign of the blood on the body itself – no blood stains, no smears, no droplets. Someone cut that girl in half and took the blood. And she might have been alive at that moment too – the blow to the head could've been lethal but it didn't have to.
Two other victims, also both female, were massacred beyond recognition. According to the reports they indeed looked like the supposed final victim of Jack the Ripper. And some of the internal organs were missing. The first victim lacked her kidneys while the other's liver was missing. Other organs were either found near them, removed from their abdominal cavities on purpose – presumably to allow an easy access to the ones that the killer desired to take. And it was certain that these organs were taken by someone and not by some animals – they were cut out, the blade marks were visible.
The only other man that was murdered bore signs of head trauma and was stabbed to death but not mutilated. The report stating that he was hit in the dead twice, the first blow probably not enough to stun him, and the second probably took him out not for long enough so the killer had to stab him in the heart.
The three remaining victims, all women, were hit in the head hard enough to kill, and that was all injury-wise, all three of them along with the stabbed man were robbed though. But not of all the valuable items – each was missing just one thing: a pendant, a ring, a pocket watch and oddly enough a set of keys. All reported to be old and of value as a family heirloom only, except for the keys which were ordinary keys to a small flat.
The family of the woman that had the keys taken away reported that the flat she lived in was demolished as if someone was searching for something and upon closer look they have discovered that only one item was missing – something large that hung on the wall – but they could not tell what it was exactly.
And that led to another conclusion – the killer was a wicked collector. They couldn't agree on a pattern here. On one hand the fact that some victims were robbed of simple objects while 'tokens' taken from others were of more 'organic' nature supported Robo's theory of two killers. On the other hand the injuries were consistent and supported theory of just one killer, which in turn Kroenen was promoting.
"One thing we can exclude. These were not robberies." Spike sighed. It was getting boring. "Not conventional ones at least."
"The killer has basic anatomical knowledge." Kroenen announced. "Enough to know where to seek the body parts he's after." He tapped the chin of his mask. "But not advanced enough for me to suspect him to be a medic of any kind. The cuts are not precise enough. Perhaps a butcher?"
"You assume it is a man?" Marquis decided to join the conversation.
"All we have now is what these reports tell us and the 'average serial killer profile' which is based on statistics." Robo explained. "Granted, these stats are not perfect, but it's a start, and it gives us something to work with."
"Slender says that he's not sure how much the 'average serial killer profile' matches the London Below standards." Spike passed the faceless man's words.
Everyone turned to look at the Slenderman who was behind the table, his suit's jacket was handing on the backrest of the chair that he was sitting on, he was leaning back with his hands behind his head. If he was a human he'd look like some cop from a criminal mystery movie.
"It depends on what these statistics say." Marquis shrugged.
"Well, like I said before, it's the police statistics so you can forget about equal representation of all ethnic groups, tribes and nationalities. Let alone sexes. But taking that we're in Great Britain, I guess these should be fairly accurate." Atomic Robo crossed his arms and focused. "A serial killer is usually a man somewhat between his mid-twenties and mid-thirties, usually firstborn. In half the cases they were raised by a single mother. In majority cases there was alcohol abuse in their families. Almost all of them were abused psychically, physically or sexually in their childhoods. They had tendencies to torture animals, set up fires, that sort of things. And only under a quarter of them tend to have permanent jobs." The robot said. "Between their murders they tend to behave absolutely normally, keeping unassuming average Joe appearance. Their neighbours usually think that they're polite but private people. There are several types of serial killers depending on their MO."
"I'm not sure about the abuse, broken family or being firstborn, but with that description you more or less nailed half of the adult men in London Below." De Carabas sighed. "Which lands us right where we have started."
"Whoever it is, he knows London Below well enough to not be seen or caught. This points to a native or long term resident." Door stood up and walked to the blackboard. "And judging by the pattern here it is not one of the more predatory ones that we are aware of. Not one of the known types that sell their services as mercenaries on the Floating Market fits the description. If they want to kill someone they either get hired by the right person, or just do it on their own. They also tend to see enough death that it holds no thrill for them."
"I concur. Those who lose too much profit from Floating Market being closed are also the ones that don't fit the profile. That means most of the merchants." Marquis shifted in his seat. "But that still leaves enough people."
"It leaves us with nothing then." Spike hissed. "At least for now."
"I believe we need a short break. We have been on this for hours now and our minds may be tired of this." Door turned to her guests. "Perhaps we could make further progress if we approach this with fresh minds."
"Good idea. Any more of this and you guys would start leak your brains out of your ear holes. At least those of you who have ear holes that is." Robo glanced at Slenderman's ear-less head. "Some of you could probably use some lunch too."
"I definitely could use something to eat." De Carabas smirked. "And to drink."
"Maybe a nap too?" Spike mocked. He wasn't hungry, and he wouldn't be for a long time, he fed well before he left his Hive.
"I wouldn't mind." Marquis shrugged without a spec of shame.
"And maybe later we could try to think on classification of this serial killer." Robo proposed. "Perhaps that could help us to predict his moves? Or at least understand how he chooses his victims."
"We will do that later." Door decided. "Now, let's go. I'll have some food prepared and then I will arrange the Feldsher to come here so that Doctor Kroenen can… " She started but didn't finish as a rat jumped from below one of the book shelves.
The rodent was squeaking series of quick and loud sounds, it almost sounded urgently.
"Whoa! Door, you have rats?" Robo focused on the small animal.
"I do not own any rats, Robo." She replied to him and approached the creature. "Rats live freely in London Below. And are widely respected." She turned to the rodent and listened. "I see, this is most alarming." She addressed the rat. "Thank you; tell them that we will join them presently."
The rat peeped shortly and dashed under her writing desk.
"What was that?" Spike blinked. He didn't understand any of what was happening now.
"That was Whiskers; she was one of those who discovered the dead Ratspeaker." Door explained recalling that Upworlders didn't understand rats. "She came to tell me that they have found another victim. By the Thames, at the docks."
"It seems that closing the Floating Market did little for the common safety." Marquis remarked.
No one seen fit to comment on that as they left.
TBC.